


Bubbles

by potentiality_26



Category: Identity (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, New Year's Eve, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: She smiled again, brighter this time, as he got closer.  Seven years- three of those married years- and her gut still turned over pleasantly when he smiled back.  Not the tight, fake smile he had used all too often in the beginning but the real, happy one that meant he was right there with her, and all in just like she was.  And whenever she looked at that wedding band shining on his finger...But more important than what was on his hand, just then, was what was in it.  He had two glasses of champagne, one of them assumedly for her.  Martha swallowed.Martha has something to tell John.





	Bubbles

**Author's Note:**

> Not Brit-picked.

“Seven years is a long time,” Wainwright was saying.

“Yes sir,” Martha agreed.  Sometimes, it felt like seven hundred.  Others, it seemed like only yesterday the identity unit took their first case.  She wasn’t always sure how to reconcile the two, and this party wasn’t entirely helping.  Wainwright and some of his bosses had been making noises about doing something to celebrate, and when the actual anniversary came pretty close to New Year’s Eve they had their excuse- but it still felt a little... unreal. 

“You should be very proud, Martha.  You and your people have done some good work.”

“Yes sir.”

Maybe Wainwright was aware of her scanning the room, not entirely paying attention to him, because he asked, “Where’s that husband of yours?”

She conjured a smile at that.  “Not sure, sir.  Shall I tell him you’d like to speak with him?”

“No, no.  Just give him my best.”

Martha took that to mean she was dismissed, so she nodded and started moving again.  She hadn’t lied- she wasn’t sure where John was, but she had a pretty good guess.  John could work a room, especially when he was playing a role that called for it, but he much preferred a quiet corner or a spot on the roof.  Pressed to guess, that was where she’d say he’d be.  But it was big, this place, and she wouldn’t really know where to begin. 

But then she spotted him coming towards her and felt her face heat a little.  There had always been that possibility too: that he would know she was looking for him in that way he knew so many things, and he’d come out of hiding to look for her. 

She smiled again, brighter this time, as he got closer. Seven years- three of those married years- and her gut still turned over pleasantly when he smiled back. Not the tight, fake smile he had used all too often in the beginning but the real, happy one that meant he was right there with her, and all in just like she was. And whenever she looked at that wedding band shining on his finger...

But more important than what was on his hand, just then, was what was in it.  He had two glasses of champagne, one of them assumedly for her.  Martha swallowed. 

She hadn’t thought too much about it in the beginning- about him and her, about how it would work or even if it could work.  She had just _wanted_ \- and when she finally caught him looking like he wanted too, it had changed everything.  She’d had an idea, for a while, that they might keep from the others on the team- to say nothing of the higher-ups- that they were seeing each other.  But that first time she rolled over in bed to find him beside her, she realized she couldn’t do that to him.  He had been the police’s dirty little secret; he wouldn’t be hers.  And no one loved it- but as ever with John the bottom line prevailed.  He got results- and they got results together- and that was what counted.  No one had thought they would last, though- just like no one thought the identity unit would- but they had, and they were happy.

Still, they hadn't been trying for kids, not exactly.  Martha had known that what she told him, years ago, about having plenty of time to have kids was beginning to stretch a little- and she did want a family.  She did want a family with _him_.  But when she started feeling sick in the mornings, when that time of the month didn’t come... she panicked a little.  Not a lot- it was just... like this party, bringing into sharp relief how much had changed, and how quickly.  For a long time she hadn't really believed she would get to have a life with someone she loved and who loved her. 

And suddenly she thought she was mad not to have been waiting for the other shoe to drop all this time.  Not to be waiting still.

So she told herself it was because she wanted to be absolutely sure, but three tests later that excuse was getting a little thin.  She had planned to enjoy this evening and then tell him, maybe in the morning, but now she could see that it wouldn't work out like that.   

"There you are,” she said when he was close enough.  “The boss was looking for you.”

He pulled a face, and she laughed out loud despite her nerves.  She could never help it with him.

She took the glass that he handed her, lifting it to her lips just as he glanced away, nodding to Anthony and his wife.  She didn’t entirely think that this trick- a trick he’d taught her- would fool him, but she thought it was worth a try.  Sure enough he looked back at her a moment later, his face crinkling with amusement, but by then she hardly noticed.  She sniffed the contents of the glass, let a little bit hit her tongue.

Bubbles.  Sweet, tangy, non-alcoholic taste.  It was sparkling cider. 

He _knew_ , she realized.  How did he know?  And for how long?  He saw how she was looking at him, and his amusement only seemed to grow.  “I’ve been waiting for you to tell me.”

“You have?”

He smiled gently.  “I don’t know if it’s common not to notice your wife's got morning sickness, but-”

She didn’t let him finish.  She set her glass on a nearby table and reached for him, tugging him closer by his jacket lapels.  He was quick to set his own glass aside too, letting his hands come to rest on her waist. She had that feeling in her gut again, like it was playing host to all the bubbles in her drink.  It was far too early for that to be the baby, but it still felt familiar and yet altogether new.  As he held her John was still smiling- though he looked a little confused, a little sad.  But he wasn’t drawing away- which meant that they were okay, or they would be once they had talked.  So she talked.  “I am glad.  I didn't... I didn't put it off because I'm not glad."

The gentle smile turned into an all-out grin.  "I know," he said.  He was teasing her- letting his _me too_ go unsaid.  It wasn't like she didn't know- didn't know that deep down he wanted a family just as much as she did, and had been just as afraid he wouldn't get it.

Still, she swatted his arm lightly in revenge before tugging him forward and kissing him.  From the sound of people counting down in some other room, they were too early for midnight, but that hardly mattered. 

They wouldn’t be quitting anytime soon.  

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com/).


End file.
